We rather like Control here at Push Square Towers, but it's hard to ignore the game's technical shortcomings. It generally looks great and plays well, but things have been slowing to a crawl whenever combat gets a little too heated. The frame rate drops to single figures at times, the map has struggled to load in properly, and it's put a bit of a dampener on the overall experience.

Remedy Entertainment has been working hard to, er, remedy this situation, and yesterday released patch 1.03. The main goal of this major game update is to improve the game's dodgy performance, but has it really worked? The answer is a frustrating yes and no.

Playing on a standard PlayStation 4, Control has been frustratingly choppy -- mainly, as mentioned, during combat. After installing the recent patch, there are some improvements. The map loads in properly now, which is handy, and frame rate issues have definitely been lessened to a degree. However, the game is still noticeably framey when all hell breaks loose.

It's not the end of the world. As we've said, we really enjoy playing Remedy's latest; it has some good ideas, fun combat, and fantastic atmosphere. It's just a shame that the Finnish studio hasn't been able to optimise the experience properly. Patch 1.03 is a step forward, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

Having grown up alongside PlayStation, Stephen has developed a wide knowledge of video games, from AAA blockbusters to the smallest indie gems. He also has the Platinum for The Witness, so there’s that.

I want to say that I am really impressed that it's been 2 (or is it 3?) years now that Pro and X launched and not only have Sony and MS kept to their word of no console exclusive games but they have also managed to keep the 3rd party devs in line as I haven't seen a single one blame the hardware and say the patch fix is to upgrade. I really thought someone would have broken cover by now.

For those who don't follow New 3DS had a couple of exclusive 3DS games and Hyrule Warriors was basically like half the game on the old system. Playable, but more like it walked than ran.

Still curious to see what happens when next gen hardware launches. One of those games running on a Pro or X wouldnt technically be a PS4 or X1 game not running on the old version.

Considering what happened with PS3 not getting updates on some games like Destiny, also maybe Diablo 3 or Doom, I forget, some shenanigans could be forthcoming. Maybe Madden 2025 runs on tje next PS and PS4 Pro but not PS4. Could happen. Still gotta wait and see which console Sony drops b/c I don't think they'll try to sell all 3 side by side at once, either PS4 Slim or PS4 Pro has to go.

But for now, I'm impressed by how well things have gone and the systems have co-existed.

I have found the patch has made things worse on a pro. The stop after clearing a control point is gone but the map still takes an age to load in and the slowdown is now actually worse when enemies appear. I’m still enjoying the game though.

looks like it is gonna be more and more unfinished games rushed out the door before the ps5 release, that is just a year away. so its best to wait and see with each game release from now on, instead of buy day one. because most likely there will be ps5 releases (goty/complete edition etc) of them coming that will play better.

This may just be a coincidence but, is it a server issue? Because it seems to be considerably better earlier in the day and gets worse after 3pm ct when kids are out of school and are playing the game.

this game doesn't meant to be for console due to amount of physics and calculations that exceed the limitation power of the most advanced console in the market right now. the graphics looks bad, Detroit for example much better looking game, performance issues and the map anyway is a useless for me.

@AdamNovice agreed company's just want that cash, as not alot of games came out that were huge so it got the time frame right to sell. Pitty it's not hit the fps right but I always hold out. Just bought it new for 24 pounds on ebay. So win win for me as buy the time I play it there will be about five patches. People forget what happend to the devison. Took them two good years to make that game great and yet it did eventually pay off. I still prefer it then the second. And yet plenty replay value. Everyone with common sence should atleast know buying a game on day 1 launch will most likely never be fully fixed or finished. It takes a few months for all new games to settle abit. So I think consumers just need to hold out abit regardless of what game they want. ✌️